21^st September

“Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap and let him go!””

John 11:43-44

Death is a horrible thing. It deprives us of loved ones and it takes away future memories together. Yet, as believers, death is not the end. It is the beginning of a new and painless life with Christ for eternity; an eternal life promised as an inheritance of our salvation by Jesus Himself. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus demonstrated time and time again, His authority over the enemy, over evil, over sin and ultimately over death, including His own death. Paul alludes to this in 1 Corinthians 15:55 and says, “O death, where is your sting.” He then continues and exclaims that God “gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ,” implying that death’s sting, the pain of loosing someone, although it is hard, is not the end.

It is through Jesus’ victory over His death and in His resurrection, that we too find victory over our deaths. Furthermore, not only do we have victory over our physical death’s, but also we find new life in Christ spiritually too. Jesus came not only to raise the physically dead, like Lazarus in today’s story, but also to raise the spiritually dead and give new life to us all. He came so we would have life and life in all of it’s fullness. He came to breath life into our dry bones.

Friends, if you have lost someone recently, then we mourn with you for your loss. But we want you to know, that it is not the end but the beginning of a new life in Heaven with Christ. A life that is freely available to all who ‘believe in Him’ so that none ‘perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).